


Presumptions and Pandemics

by Muze



Category: Sanditon (TV 2019)
Genre: COVID-19 fic, College AU, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Romance, happy endings, okay not really quarantined since none of them have it, relationships for all, they were quarantined together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24565042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muze/pseuds/Muze
Summary: Unnecessary transport results in a hefty fine amidst the global pandemic. Not that Charlotte Heywood didn’t have to pay for being where she was already, as she was locked up with the most insufferable man she’d ever met: Sidney Parker.Or the: Charlotte, Georgiana, James and Esther go into lockdown with Crowe, Babington and Sidney AU.
Relationships: Charlotte Heywood/Sidney Parker, Lord Babington/Esther Denham, minor Clara Brereton/Mr. Crowe, minor Georgiana Lambe/James Stringer
Comments: 24
Kudos: 80





	Presumptions and Pandemics

**Author's Note:**

> I’m sorry for not updating the In-Between, after my first exam I fell into a writer’s block with it. I decided the best thing to do was to try and get my creative juices flowing in another way. 
> 
> And what better way than a quarantine fic, I’ve seen it done in many other fandoms, but hadn’t seen one for the Sanditon fandom (must have missed it if there was one. In that case: I am so so sorry, dear writer). I’m basing the covid measures and their timeframe on my own country (Belgium). That’s also why you’ll be seeing euros.
> 
> Much love,  
> Lynn.

‘Surely they’ll still give us a day to return home?’ Charlotte asked of her mother.

‘Dearest, that day was yesterday. You really didn’t see the news? It was announced two days ago at eleven at night. And it was all over the news yesterday. Where have you been? You’re usually so up-to-date’, her mother tutted.

Charlotte usually scrolled through the morning news on her favourite news app. It was an extravagance to pay for the news, she knew, but she liked to put money in real journalism. And she cared about the news. When she went to pub quizzes with her friend group, she was the one who always managed to singlehandedly answer the “current events” round.

‘I know’, she sighed, kicking herself off of the ground and moodily twisting around on her desk chair.

‘But in my defence it was a Wednesday. You know how Wednesdays are. On Wednesdays I have class at eight. I just can’t wake up before eight. I’m already happy when I’m able to stumble out of bed and grab a granola bar before heading out to class on those days. Just the previous day I had a student council meeting during lunch. We were discussing how to juggle a possible couple of weeks at home in the near future. The near future! Like, we knew the number of cases were rising, but no one, not even the officials at my faculty knew the government would impose it the next day!’

Her mother hummed empathically, though she could feel her judgement. So Charlotte continued on explaining her day.

‘We thought like… perhaps around April, they would announce some measures like no classes in big auditoria, no crowded parties, no student life for a while, that kind of stuff you know? Not a complete lockdown of the nation! A complete lockdown! How could I know? There wasn’t even a full lockdown like this during the First or Second World War! Anyways, I’m rambling. So, during lunch I caught up with Georgie and like, we were just talking about our classes. And then I had class with James and then… it was evening. And Esther was throwing a dinner party, and like, we live in the same house so of course I was there and then… Then around eleven o’clock we all started getting these messages about classes being cancelled. At two past midnight we got emails from our rector that all classes would be suspended next week… By the time I woke up this morning, well, you know’, Charlotte sighed, waving helplessly with her free arm.

By this morning, everything had changed. She pushed herself off again and sent herself spinning a new round of circles on her chair.

‘Mum, I want to come home. We don’t even know how long this is going to last. I’ve always come home for the weekends. I can’t go without seeing all of you and the pets for weeks, or even months.’

‘Char, dearest, the fines for unnecessary trips are hundreds of euros.’

Charlotte huffed.

‘Listen, they say that if you are infected, symptoms will show up in two to three weeks at its latest. If one of us at home is infected, we could infect you, or if you are infected, you could infect us. Let’s not become the ruin of each other. I mean, you know how many people are dying in China, Spain and Italy right now. How about we wait three weeks, then we might find a solution, or risk a fine. Alright?’

She knew a reasonable bargain when she saw one, so she took it. ‘Yeah, I know. I agree. But really, I think I am fine. If anyone has it, it’ll be the stupid people who went on a skiing holiday. None of my friends went.’

‘But you aren’t able to trace everyone all of your friends interacted with, Charlotte. Can you name everyone you interacted with the past three weeks? Do you know how every single one of the people you encountered is doing right now? Someone of your housemates might have come in contact with an infected person. There aren’t enough tests out there, some people don’t even know whether they have it. I’ve even heard of some rare cases of people being infected and passing it on without any symptoms themselves! Let’s just try to be safe. If we all stay inside for three weeks, we can be somewhat sure that we’re all free of the virus.’

‘I know’, Charlotte sighed. ‘I know all of it. I’ve been following the virus. I know about the incubation period guestimates and the possibility of being asymptomatic it’s just… ugh, I guess I’m just trying to reason it all away because I want to come home’, Charlotte admitted with a small smile.

‘I know, honey. We miss you too. But we’ll stay in touch. We could do some skyping perhaps? Oh, and I can send you pictures of the dogs and cats and the pony and bunny on snapchat!’

‘That would be great, thanks mum.’

‘Love you dear.’

‘Love you too’, Charlotte said, swallowing away the lump in her throat.

‘Speak to you soon dear, I have to go and make lunch.’

‘Yeah, bye. Give them my love!’

‘I will.’

She was going to cry. She was always quite emotional, but never much of a crier. She liked to blame her period and her hangover for being so easily brought to tears.

She took some more time to wipe away her tears and think of her siblings, parents and pets, before venturing downstairs.

Georgiana and James weren’t down, probably still sleeping. It had been awfully late. If she could, she would’ve slept in as well, but although Charlotte’s biorhythm wanted her to sleep past eight o’clock, she was always up before eleven.

Esther was sitting on the couch, watching The Dragon Prince, probably as some kind of medicine against the absolutely overwhelming amount of news updates streaming in every hour, while Clara was talking on the telephone, looking thoroughly frustrated and exhausted. Her hair was still curled from the previous day, but was put into an uncombed bun.

Charlotte quietly slipped past the both of them to pour herself some coffee and fill a bowl with granola, fruit and yoghurt.

‘No, no it’s not. Dude, this is _our_ house! Yeah, I _know_ but I need to pass it past them first. No, no I am not being dense, you are being stupid and impatient. I _understand_ but they deserve a voice in this. Oh, screw you!’ Clara answered the voice on the phone. Charlotte supressed a smile at the condescending tone Clara used.

Judging by the catty dialogue, she guessed Clara was talking to her not-boyfriend Enzo Crowe. It baffled Charlotte how the two appeared to get off on insulting and teasing each other. She was certain that if anyone would taunt her that way, she wouldn’t talk to them at all.

Immediately her mind went back to the previous day.

She’d met him before. Their friend groups had already intersected while going out.

His name was Sidney Parker and he was as enervating as he was handsome. He refused to dance with them, rather choosing to be a stick-in-the-mud and hang out at the bar, even when all other girls had dancing partners and Charlotte was left to dance on her own. He had only come to her once, and that was because she was being harassed by a boy who wouldn’t drop it until another man swooped in to claim her. She hated that she could only be rid of him by having to dance with another man, and hated that he saw it as his duty to save her… Although begrudgingly she had to admit that it was true that she hadn’t been able to fend him off on her own. Some men were awful like that, any girl who went out even a handful of times knew some men just wouldn’t give up unless another man was around.

Her hate hadn’t been instantaneous of course, it was earned. Charlotte liked to believe she was a fair and loving creature. No, he’d first been an insufferable party pooper. But she knew enough men who weren’t fond of dancing. She’d even had some pity for him at first, she’d gone up to him to talk with him, trying to be friendly to the man excluded from the fun dancing.

But then of course, she’d made a mistake since as they were talking about the party and the people dancing. The crime she had committed was being her open, talkative self while letting him in on the little fantasies she fabricated around everyone she saw. It was an innocent thing, really. She could see someone running down the street and immediately fabricated a story around where they were coming from and where they were going to. But of course, one of the people she had created a story about just so happened to be his younger brother who had been waving his t-shirt around to the beat of some song. And alright, she got it, she would probably be prickly too if someone came around joking about her siblings. But it had been so harmless, only someone wanting to get offended would be mad. Just her luck that Sidney Parker was most eager to find reasons to scowl. She’d tried to apologize afterwards, but he wouldn’t have it. Their interactions were stiff and limited afterwards.

He’d been there the previous day, at the party. He never exchanged words with her if he could avoid it. Until Esther, James, Clara and Enzo had started playing cocktailpong and Charlotte had gone outside for a breather. He’d gone outside too, lighting up a cigarette. She still didn’t know what to make of their conversation. He was one big puzzle.

_________________________________________

_‘Too hot for you as well?’ she’d tried saying in an attempt at polite conversation._

_‘Is that a question, or an assumption?’_

_Charlotte rolled her eyes._

_‘Was that a question, or an insult?’ Charlotte shot back._

_She sighed as Sidney put back his lighter._

_‘It was a question, an attempt at casual conversation. You know it?’_

_‘I do’, he answered as he breathed out cigarette smoke in the night air. Charlotte’s face scrunched up as the smell of the cigarette fumes hit her. She always detested the smell of cigarettes. It was the worst part of clubbing: the constant smoking and smelling of smoke herself when she arrived home._

_He noticed her face scrunching up._

_‘Yeah, I know. Smoking is bad, no need to be so obvious about it.’_

_‘Now who’s the one assuming? I wasn’t going to say anything. I don’t care whether you smoke, I don’t care about you at all. But the smell bothers me, yes. It has always made me feel ill. I’m sorry if I can’t control my expression to accommodate your addiction.’_

_He took some time answering her, assessing her as she sat on the cobblestone street leaning back against the house she shared with her friends._

_He took a couple of steps to the side, taking another breath and exhaling with the direction of the wind so that the smoke wouldn’t pass her._

_‘I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware.’_

_The apology baffled Charlotte, and she was rendered speechless by the civility for a couple of seconds._

_‘You couldn’t know’, she said quietly._

_‘And to answer your question: yes it was rather hot in there, but actually, my main complaint is that our friends are too loud. Especially when they’re shouting while playing games.’_

_‘They are’, Charlotte admitted. During the remainder if his cigarette, they actually engaged in polite conversation for the first time._

_________________________________________

Charlotte was drawn back to the present by Esther’s voice.

‘What was that all about?’

‘Enzo. Says his building is closing down, sending all students home, since they’re sharing kitchens and bathrooms, they deem it unsafe. And they reason that since uni’s cancelled there’s no reason for them to stay in the city. All of them will get written permission to return home.’

‘So? They’ll be able to return home, that’s fine. Right?’

‘No, because apparently his parents went skiing two weeks ago, and they’d been feeling out of sorts, and they’ve caught it. They’re still fine, or well… They’re still at home, but they say they’re feeling awful. Going home isn’t really an option for him.’

‘And?’

‘And he’s asking to come over.’

This made Esther pause her show.

‘But we don’t know how long this’ll last. He’s asking to be here for weeks. Or months even’, Esther said warily.

‘I know. Maybe , once his parents are deemed healthy, he can return home. But Esther, this is killing and hospitalising people, even younger ones… I don’t… I don’t want him to catch it either. I… I won’t force all of you to take him in. If the majority of us decide against it, I’ll tell him he has to go home and like, lock himself up in his room. Or lock his parents up in their room and bring them food at their bedroom door or something’, Clara shrugged.

‘Listen, I allowed this to drag on for months without prying, but are you two a thing or not?’

Clara frowned, nervously toying with her phone as she leaned against the kitchen counter, refusing to meet Esther’s enquiring gaze.

‘Mno… yes… Well, technically in all but name.’

‘I’m asking because I want to know whether he’ll be sleeping with you, or whether you’re intending to give him the couch or our shared study.’

‘He’ll be sleeping with me… But… Well…’

Esther turned around on the couch, now sitting on her knees, full attention on Clara.

For someone in a Disney pyjama and a velvet scrunchie, she looked quite intimidating.

‘What is it?’ Esther demanded.

Clara’s guilty eyes sought out Charlotte’s.

Charlotte shrugged, not knowing how to help. She didn’t even know what Clara was hiding.

She wanted Crowe to come live with them, what else was there?

‘Babs, James, he lives in Crowe’s building as well.’

James Babington. Charlotte covered her mouth with her hands. Now she understood Clara’s hesitancy to come forth with it. Everyone knew he’d been mooning after Esther ever since they first met. Esther had treated him coolly, like she did every man, and pretended to be blind to it. Or perhaps she was blind to it. Anyways, no one was eager to point it out either.

Everyone knew Esther liked her space and mistrusted men. She hadn’t minded sharing a house with James Stringer since he was a fellow Architecture student and friend of Charlotte’s. He’d also quickly accepted his place on the bottom of the pecking order, and carefully tiptoed around Esther the first couple of months. After those months she had deemed him a non-threat and had started treating him with the same mother hen care she bestowed on her other friends. She’d also been happy to see Georgiana move on from Otis and get together with him, especially since it meant his room had become free. Now his old room was filled with desks so all of them could study and work in peace.

She could accept another boyfriend moving in, even though she disliked having to share her personal space with someone she wasn’t very familiar, but to have a bachelor stranger in wouldn’t be to Esther’s liking. Especially if she already had to take in another soul.

Sometimes Charlotte felt like living with four other souls was already pushing the limits of Esther’s capabilities. To add another two to that…

‘And what’s his excuse?’ Esther asked. ‘Did his parents go on that holiday together with Crowe’s?’

‘He’s afraid he might have it. Not that he’s showing any symptoms, but he wants to wait three weeks to check whether he might have it. His parents are already quite a bit older, and his mother has diabetes and asthma. He doesn’t want to risk their health.’

Esther fell down, disappearing behind the backrest. Charlotte could hear a growling and muttering behind the pillows.

‘Fine!’ Esther cried. ‘But we still need Jamiana’s response!’ she declared, using their couple name.

Charlotte shared a grin with Clara.

‘Talking about Jamiana… Does this mean we can start calling you Clowe? Or Enza?’ Charlotte teased.

‘Please’, Clara huffed while rolling her eyes. ‘If you must, Clowe’s fine’, she admitted with a smile.

Enzo Crowe and James Babington arrived the same day, after a bleary eyed James and Georgiana had agreed to it. The first placing his suitcase in Clara’s room, the second moving into the study where a camping matrass had been made up by Esther. Esther had done it, because of course neither the sleepyheads or Clara and Charlotte had thought of it.

She’d combed her hair, put on her good clothes and make-up. They were all more dressed than they usually were when it was just them, then all the girls wore sweatpants or leggings, but none had made as much of an effort as Esther. It wasn’t in her nature to be relaxed around others, or to let others see her as anything but a perfect impenetrable fortress. Charlotte had known Esther didn’t trust others much, but she hadn’t yet realized that inviting others over meant Esther felt forced to put up a performance in her own house every day.

When James Babington thanked them for already setting up his sleeping place, the girls all knew who’d done it. They’d all smiled prettily at Babington, and Esther didn’t claim the thanks.

‘But really, we can’t function with two Jameses in the house. It’ll be confusing’, Georgiana decided to point out during dinner. She brought it up for their benefit, since she had a million nicknames for her James ranging from bae to noodleskedoodle and Jamiekins.

‘Uhm, do you have a nickname you usually go by?’ James Babington asked James stringer.

‘Always loathed being called Jimmy, though some in my hometown called me young Stringer. But I dunno, doesn’t really roll of the tongue’, he admitted.

‘Me neither.’

‘But we do call you by your surname quite a lot, don’t we Babbers?’

‘Yeah, I guess Babbers or B is fine, I guess’, he admitted.

Esther stood to clean the table, and Babington immediately jumped upright to help.

‘I can do it alone.’

‘I know, but, since you already allowed me to stay over, allow me to help out.’

‘Might as well’, Esther acquiesced. After clearing the table, she filled her glass with some more wine before disappearing upstairs.

She usually stayed downstairs to read or watch a movie or series with them, but Charlotte didn’t push her to spend more time around people she wasn’t used to yet.

Babington and Crowe were quite fun to be around though. They played board games the remainder of the night, and only went to bad well past midnight. Charlotte knew that they were only here due to the pandemic, but she could almost forget a pandemic was out there. The streets looked so peaceful, and it was such fun inside. Perhaps, the added liveliness could soften the sadness she felt at missing her family for a prolonged amount of time.

After a few days, Charlotte already started noticing some changes. Routines were starting to be developed. By the time she got out of bed, Babington and Esther had already had breakfast. She knew Esther usually slept until ten when she didn’t have class, so she assumed Esther just woke up earlier to avoid having to eat with others. Babington appeared to be intent on being useful around the house, sweeping, doing the dishes and taking the trash out, while Crowe was already acting like a little brother, playing pranks with Georgiana and being more tactile with Clara than he was before.

Charlotte thought back on a joke she’d made right at the start of quarantine.

_‘Either this quarantine will cause a lot of divorces, or a lot of babies.’_

_‘Or both’_ , Georgiana had grinned.

Charlotte had video-chatted with her family every day, mostly around four in the afternoon, when her younger siblings were allowed to quit working for school. From the second she was on call, they all took to bringing her the pets to say hi. Seeing her brothers and sister lift struggling and hissing cats and dogs always managed to make her laugh, especially the one time when her sister Alison brough the bunny to the camera. It had kicked its hind legs so forcefully it had fallen straight into her mother’s lap, from where it had hopped into her father’s lap, where it had bitten straight through his shirt.

They managed to keep Esther downstairs for a game of clue on the third day, and supplied with a decent amount of wine and strawberry vodka slushies, she finally eased down enough to take in the new group dynamics.

It was a peaceful evening.

The next morning, however, wasn’t peaceful.

Charlotte woke up to shouting and a door slamming shut.

She pushed herself out of bed and found Clara and Crowe awkwardly sitting at the breakfast table, a full cup of tea and cereal belonging to a now gone third person on the opposite side of the table.

Esther would never shout or lose her control in the presence of outsiders like Crowe unless she was really pushed.

‘What happened?’

‘It’s…’ Clara sighed, letting her face fall against Crowe’s shoulder.

‘It’s Sid’, Crowe explained.

Sidney Parker’s student house was closing down as well. But just like in Babington’s case, he had no opportunity to go home. His mother was dead, and his father in a hospital due to a heart attack. His brother Tom, who was older than him by a decade, had two cases of covid-19 in the house, two of the children, though neither was suffering. And the house Sidney, Arthur, Diana and their father lived in, there were cases as well. One being Arthur, who had gone home three days before the official announcement upon the insistence of their sister Diana. But Diana had been too late with her warning. Arthur had caught it, and had infected his sister as well. Both were complaining about fevers and being unable to smell or taste their food. And since both felt awful, they had to resort to easy meals and take-out food. And there wasn’t a lot of take-out food in their remote coastal village.

So Sidney Parker was looking for a place to stay.

Charlotte knew it would be cruel to send him home, but she didn’t feel inclined to take him in either.

‘Actually, I believe it’s unfair that students are paying for rooms but are forced out. Isn’t anyone doing something about that?’ Charlotte pleaded.

She’d seen many friends venting their anger online.

‘Yeah, complaints and petitions. But there’s no official response yet’, Clara answered.

Charlotte went to her room to sulk. Admittedly, it would change little. He could go and sleep with Babington. What difference would another person make?

But it was him.

She didn’t know why, but there was just something about Sidney Parker that made her want to punch him.

They’d only had five minutes of civil interaction during their entire acquaintance.

Sidney Parker arrived the next day, suitcase in hand.

And he was already annoying her by lunch. Everyone was engaged in small conversations except the two of them. Charlotte actually preferred it, since if she said nothing, he could find nothing wrong with it.

‘So, Miss Heywood, any observations on the current pandemic?’

‘As you have no interest in my opinion, I shan't trouble you with it.’

She would not be taking his bait.

‘I'm sure you have some remarks. Come, share them with me.’

‘Not for the world, I have endured two tongue lashings from you and I won't court a third..... Save your unpleasantness for someone else. Or better still, why not try to be civil, since we're all locked up here together?’ Charlotte suggested.

‘Well said,’ he admitted, ‘perhaps I might.’

The look he gave her made her skin crawl and heart flutter. But no matter his dashing smile, she didn’t trust him enough to have an open conversation with him.

‘But not with me, pray.... Oh Enzo, how is your paper going along?’ Charlotte asked, turning to her left to speak with Crowe.

Esther did not stay downstairs for games that evening, and Babington also didn’t stick around after doing the dishes, talking about some deadlines for school and some required reading.

Leaving exactly six people downstairs, which was perfect for three teams to play Bezzerwizzer, since the couples were understandably paired up together, that left her and Sidney to team up. Since both were competitive, their differences would have to be pushed aside for the time being.

And surprisingly, when they weren’t focussed on being hostile to each other, they worked along perfectly. Charlotte was surprised by how much he knew about history and art, and he was in turn surprised to see her answer questions about sports easily.

‘Is that a smile I detect?’ Charlotte enquired after she got a question right that had made Sidney’s eyebrows rise into his hairline.

‘Oh I doubt it’, he grinned.

They beat the others twice, before the others declared it a dumb game and suggested they play circle of death instead.

By the end of the evening, she had to admit that perhaps, he wasn’t as horrible as she’d thought. At the same time Sidney Parker considered the exact same thing.

Maybe they’d survive this quarantine.

They had a calendar hanging up on the wall. Every day, someone had to print and glue a new quarantine or pandemic meme in the square of the day. Such was their routine, and today it was up to Charlotte. She’d decided on a Back to the Future meme with the caption: "entering the 20s with an economic depression, a global pandemic, and a rise in nationalism" and a picture of Marty McFly underneath it saying: "Hey! I've seen this one, I've seen this one! It's classic.'

She was just on her way back to her room after having eaten her breakfast and putting her meme up, when she decided to quickly brush her teeth before her virtual class would start in five minutes. She knew many students followed the online classes in onesies and pyjama’s, she was hardly any better as she was always dressed in t-shirt and leggings, yet she wanted to feel fresh for class.

After three years of living together with her friends though, she had become accustomed to not knocking anymore. It was perhaps a sign that she wasn’t really used to the new inhabitants sharing their house yet.

A stupid mistake really.

She realized that as soon as she heard the sound of the shower. She didn’t even have to see the person to remember that their house now held three additional guests.

But she _did_ see him.

 _All_ of him.

Heat rushed to her cheeks and she instantly turned away.

‘Ah, owh, Sidney! I- I’m sorry. I should have knocked!’ She cried out, mortification washing over her in waves.

She could die of embarrassment.

He was huge!

 _No stupid brain, come on_ , she chastised herself. She only grew more flustered by her own thoughts.

She wouldn’t be able to get that image out of her head anytime soon.

‘Charlotte, always popping up when least expected.... It seems I cannot escape you.’

‘I was just leaving. I erhm, wanted to brush my teeth. But it can wait! It can wait.’

‘Might as well grab your brush and brush them in the kitchen’, he reasoned.

How is he able to think and talk so clearly?! Charlotte wondered.

Why wasn’t he embarrassed?

She’d walked right into his private shower time.

‘I ah… Yes’, she quickly muttered, keeping her gaze to the ground as she snatched up the toothpaste and her toothbrush.

She avoided going downstairs, even skipping lunch. And only ventured down around dinner time. Esther and Babington were in the kitchen, making some kind of Indian dish. Upon noticing no one else was present, Charlotte allowed herself to plop onto the couch with a bag of crisps and a book.

She tried to make her reading obvious, but couldn’t help listening in.

She’d spent some time talking to Esther the past two weeks. She was struggling with the additional people. She didn’t feel at ease in her own home. And she also felt like she had less space to move and think. Sometimes she literally needed a large empty space to clear her head. Charlotte got it. She did. Being a country girl, everything felt cramped in the city. She needed a lot of light in her room, and a feeling of openness. She loved the house she shared with her friends, but nothing made her feel as much at ease as her home in Willingden. It’s what made her and Esther connect. They were introverts although they loved the occasional party, fond of books and silence, and both were thinkers and philosophers. 

Charlotte was glad she finally seemed to grow comfortable around the others. She and Babington exchanged quiet dialogue about the food they were making and the songs they put on. They worked like a well oiled machine as they chopped the vegetables, worked on the meat and sauce and did the spicing.

‘No.’

‘Come on.’

Charlotte stole a glance over her shoulder. Esther was tasting some sauce from a spoon Babington was holding out. Her make-up was still on point, but she wore one of her more casual band t-shirts instead of another fashionable blouse.

Charlotte looked back and drew back into the couch as much as possible, feeling she was witnessing something private.

After they’d put on the rice and left the tikka masala to stew, Esther went to her laptop on the dining table to finish up a school task, while Babington went outside to call his parents.

Charlotte quickly snuck away so she would be out of the way once Babington returned. Halfway down the upstairs hallway, she bumped into Sidney Parker exiting the loo.

Charlotte staggered backwards, heat immediately climbing up her neck to her cheeks as she remembered their previous encounter.

‘Charlotte, um, I've been meaning to say... Our meeting in the bathroom...I hope you weren't too embarrassed.’

Charlotte gasped for breath. Searching for anything fitting to say. She decided that, since he had decided to show no shame, she wouldn’t either.

‘Why should I be? I was fully clothed.’

His mouth slammed shut. He appeared to be self-conscious for a couple of seconds.

He wore his confidence quite well, but she had to admit that it was quite endearing to see him lost for words.

‘Yes, well… Uhm.. Anyways. It would be good if we could leave it behind us.’

 _His behind was the only thing she hadn’t seen,_ the dirty part of Charlotte’s mind thought. She cursed herself again.

She could feel her heart beating madly within her chest.

‘Of course. Yes. Certainly.’

He nodded awkwardly.

‘Yes, well… Until dinner’, he smiled stiffly before stepping past her.

All of them decided to test their friendships that evening, and play the Game of Thrones monopoly the girls had bought during their first year of living together.

‘Oh how delightful, a little war to spice up our lives’, Enzo grinned when it was first suggested by Georgiana.

‘Can we place bets on who’ll win?’ asked James Stringer.

‘Ah, I knew I would like you!’ Enzo Crowe laughed.

‘Really though, shouldn’t we be cherishing our friendships?’ pleaded Sidney.

‘Is that fear I detect?’ Esther enquired.

‘Not at all. I only hope there’ll be no sore losers’, Sidney grinned.

Charlotte was a sore loser. She was fuming, angrily recounting the money in front of her with balled wrists, still not accepting her defeat. Crowe was an angry loser, however, accusing Babington of being a corrupt bank and Georgiana and James of playing together too much. Esther exclaimed he would have made better tactical decisions if he drank less. That resulted in Crowe exclaiming he would quit drinking right that instant, before throwing the remainder of his glass of wine over her.

It had all gone downhill from there.

Esther had tackled him to the ground, stuffing crisps up his shirt and shouting. Then Babington had pulled his friend from under her and chastised him. Meanwhile Charlotte, Clara and Georgiana had taken Esther upstairs to clean her up. As her anger dissipated her cursing was quickly replaced by tears of shame as she realized how she’d absolutely lost it in front of everyone.

‘It’s not your fault dear, he threw wine over you. I’d hit him too’, Clara comforted her.

‘But it’s my fault he felt the need to do so. I called him a drunk.’

‘Well, he had drank too much’, Georgiana replied.

‘He did, Clara admitted. ‘And not for the first time. And really, telling somebody that they play badly because they drank too much doesn’t allow them to physically attack you’, Clara continued.

‘Let’s get you cleaned up, shall we?’ Charlotte asked, gently dabbing a cool washcloth against Esther’s temple.

‘You’ll feel better once you’ve cooled down and feel clean again’, she offered with a smile. ‘And then you can have a nice sleep.’

Esther nodded meekly, allowing Charlotte to drag her to the bathroom. She returned to her bedroom fifteen minutes later, smelling of soap with her run-out makeup removed. All the girls stayed in to talk, and lit some nice scented candles.

They received a knock not long after.

‘Ehm, Esther… it’s Enzo, could I come in?’

Esther paled, looking down on her short black sleeping gown. She unconsciously rubbed a hand across her bare face.

‘No’, she replied with a surprisingly collected cold voice.

‘I want to apologize.’

‘You can do it at the door’, she decided, proud that she had found a solution. The girls nodded encouragingly.

‘Well ehm. I’m sorry for throwing my wine over you. I’m sorry. I’m a bad loser. I shouldn’t have lost my temper like that. It was a cruel move.’

Esther moved to the door, leaning against it.

‘Apologies accepted. I should’ve been the bigger person instead of jumping you and attacking you with food.’

‘Well, I must admit it was a first being punished by having crisps stuffed down my shirt and down my throat.’

Esther bit her lip to keep from giggling.

‘If you liked it, I can keep on punishing you like that!’ Clara sung.

Georgiana and Charlotte couldn’t keep from crying out in disgust.

‘Hey, how many you got in there?’

‘A whole army of protective girls’, Charlotte replied.

‘There’s another word for such a collection’, Crowe laughed.

They could hear a hand connecting with flesh and Crowe cursing. He wasn’t alone.

‘Auch, hey. Alright. Sorry, sorry okay. It was just a joke’, Crowe muttered.

‘I’ll be going to our room, Clara, you know where to find me.’

‘I do. But I’m not in the mood for forgiving you yet after the way you treated my friend. Make a bed on the floor.’

‘But she forgave me.’

‘Yes, but you still deserve some punishment. And I’m more fit to deliver it’, Clara decided, coming to stand beside Esther as she talked to her boyfriend through the door.

They could hear footsteps down the hallway. They remained together for some more time, before the others returned to their rooms.

It was three in the afternoon the next day when Charlotte came downstairs with her laptop, searching for a stable internet connection. The professor was addressing some exam questions and Charlotte didn’t want to miss a bit due to an unstable internet connection.

She’d assumed the living room would be empty because at this time of day, Georgiana and James and Clara and Crowe were taking their daily walks, and the others were usually working for school or doing something in their rooms.

However, Charlotte should have known that the emptiness of the house would be used by others as well. Sidney and Babington were sleeping on two camping mattresses, surrounded by five desks. It couldn’t be comfortable in such cramped quarters.

‘Ah, the ubiquitous Miss Heywood, can't I even read the news in peace?’ Sidney smirked.

‘I would allow you to read the news in peace, Mr. Parker, but since there’s new news updates every hour, I’m afraid that would be quite hard. The internet connection is better downstairs. I’m afraid I have to be down here for a class.’

‘Alright, I’ll keep quiet then.’

‘Thanks.’

Out of respect for him, she went back upstairs to fetch her headphones so he could read in peace.

She might as well have had a poor internet connection upstairs. Since she kept looking back at Sidney Parker’s relaxed form on the couch. She couldn’t stop tracing the shape of his nose and jaw with her eyes, and studying the micro-expressions on his face as he read the articles. Her focus was weak at best.

The line between enemies and lovers was a thin one, and they were long past enmity.

She’d wondered how Clara and Crowe could keep on critiquing and mocking each other, but it appeared she and Sidney liked roasting each other to express their fondness of each other. There was no malice behind the jabs anymore. Instead, it amused her as much to give as to receive them.

By the start if April, it became clear that the lockdown would last a long time.

Charlotte liked to say she was doing fine, but really she was a mess. She missed classes, she missed going out, she was constantly panicking about her family, and felt robbed of a semester that should have been a great deal of fun, and she feared that once she got out, there would be a big economic depression.

On top of that she missed her friends and her pets and the country air. She felt as if time was ticking by and she wasn’t allowed to use it at all. It felt unfair. But on the other hand she felt guilty for feeling that way, since she already knew someone whose grandmother had died from it. She and her family were healthy, and everyone had lost their classes and social life. Some people were out of job, that was infinitely worse. Charlotte worked as a waitress for a couple hours a week usually, and although she wasn’t able to do that anymore, she was blessed with parents who could give her enough money to survive.

One second, she’d been watching the news, the next, she’d been gasping for breath as big fat tears rolled down her face with every laboured breath. There wasn’t anything particularly bad on the news. At least, nothing unexpected. But when the news item came by announcing all universities had officially cancelled all classes for the remainder of the year, something inside of her had just broken down. Really, it had been a long time coming.

She’d been feeling her mental stability become more and more unsteady over the past couple of weeks, but she’d just pushed it away.

She’d been alone downstairs when she’d put on the news, but she could now feel comforting large hands on her.

Someone was talking to her.

She knew who it was, knew his low gruff voice. Knew the tender tone.

‘Charlotte, Charlotte, what is it?’

‘I’m… So … Tired’, she admitted between the hiccups.

She could feel a weight on the couch.

‘Char, Charlotte, look at me. Charlotte? Charlotte?’

She wanted to, but Christ, she couldn’t. And she felt awful and embarrassed. But it felt so _good_ to finally cry and give in to her panic and sadness.

Sidney gave up on trying to talk to her and just hugged her through it, until her breathing calmed down. She shifted in his embrace, positioning herself to lie more comfortably against his chest. She tried to listen to his heartbeat as she fought to control her breathing. Perhaps if she followed his breathing along?

She failed, and the hiccups and tears came anew, albeit less strongly than before.

‘I- It’s so stupid. It’s awful for everyone. Christ, you shouldn’t even be holding me. You, you have more right to be sad. People are getting sick. People are dying. And I’m just crying for some lost fun and school and and and and and … and.’

‘Charlotte!’ he shushed. ‘It’s fine. You’re mourning. You’re allowed to mourn. We’ve all lost things. We’ve all had plans ruined. It’s not because some people have it worse that you don’t deserve to be sad. There’s no minimum requirement to be allowed to feel things.

‘But.. But you’re all so coll… collected. And I’m a mess. And I- I really wanted to like this year and now it’s all… But like it’s not… I know it’s serious but I hate it. I hate it.’

A part of her was aware she wasn’t making much sense, but she couldn’t help it.

‘We all cry from time to time. I’ve cried’, he admitted.

‘You have?’

‘Once, a couple of manly tears, of course’, he joked.

‘But you shouldn’t take me as an example. I’m bad with feelings, even my own. It’s not exactly healthy.’

Charlotte hiccupped a last time before looking up at him.

‘Really?’

He nodded. ‘We should start showing more empathy for each other, mourn together, instead of playing a who-has-more-reasons-to-cry game in comment sections on facebook and forbidding ourselves from feeling what we do, pushing ourselves to feel guilt when we shouldn’t.’

Charlotte nodded.

‘I agree.’

‘Of course, it’s because I am right.’

‘You just said you were bad with feelings, but you’re actually proposing a healthy way of dealing with them’, she pointed out.

‘Yes well, something about “do as I say, not as I do”. I’ve given life lessons to Enzo while I wasn’t doing any better myself, and I’ve gotten love advice from Babbers when he’s a fool himself.’

Charlotte bit her lip to keep from smiling. She had that too. She’d comforted and given tips to Georgiana when she was healing from her break-up with Otis, while she herself had never experienced love before.

‘Love advice from Babbers?’ Charlotte asked teasingly.

‘Tells me I should just go for it. It’s stupid really, given that he never speaks up.’

‘You, you’re in love?’ she squeaked.

Of course. Of course he would be. Probably with someone smart and stunning who gave him more compliments than jabs.

‘Not fully, but I’m afraid I’m falling dangerously fast.’

‘Oh.’

‘With you, actually.’

‘Oh.’

He looked at her for a couple of seconds, before awkwardly looking away, nodding to himself.

‘Shouldn’t take advice from him’, he muttered before gently drawing back his arms.

‘No!’ Charlotte cried.

‘No good adivice!’ She said quickly, ignoring Sidney’s surprised look. ‘Really, encourage him to do it himself. Because I think doing so might put an end to all of our suffering’, Charlotte smiled.

‘Oh. So you all know.’

‘We’re not blind’, Charlotte huffed, unable to keep a smile from her face.

‘No, you’re a bunch of smart women’, he agreed, his left hand coming to slide through her hair.

She could see his eyes dropping to her lips.

She'd gotten a guy in two months during a pandemic while she hadn't been able to get one any time before that. _And in leggings!_ Charlotte bit her lip, looking back up at him.

‘Charlotte?’ he asked, his voice barely more than a hushed whisper.

‘Yes?’

Her eyes fluttered back to his lips.

She’d wondered about kissing them. Been curious as to how they’d taste. She'd presumed they'd taste amazing, but had always shoved those thoughts aside quickly.

And now, she would find out.

Amazing.

Amazing was the answer.

On the 17th of May it was announced that they were finally allowed to make more unnecessary trips again. By that time, James Stringer’s old room had become a study without a single mattress once again.


End file.
